Until recently an attorney at the U.S. Deptartment of Education (DOE), Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Nezhia Burkes offers F3 Law clients the benefit of her deep experience in civil rights and education law, helping them to navigate complex issues in special education, student matters and employment matters, with strategies that are both legally sound and realistic for school environments. Her dedication extends to nurturing the next generation of legal professionals, empowering them to excel in safeguarding educational opportunities for all.

While at the DOE, Nezhia gained significant experience handling investigations and complaints, negotiating resolution agreements and bringing schools into compliance in matters involving race-, disability- and sex-based harassment and different treatment, post-secondary accommodations, and retaliation, among other issues. Her DOE role also allowed her to establish relationships with school districts, county offices of education and institutes of higher education, which she now continues in this different context.

Current client concerns include student safety; equity; budget; student services; or the rapidly shifting landscape following the issuance of Executive Order 14173, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” involving DEI. Given Nezhia’s OCR experience, and her deep understanding of both federal regulatory compliance and the interplay between federal and state, those clients will be more strongly situated with her at their side.

Nezhia is a first-generation college graduate with more than 20 years of combined public (military and federal civilian) service